I’m Lauren Grier, the author of Climbing Grier Mountain (CGM). For those of you I haven’t met, I write a food and lifestyle blog in the Mile High City. On CGM, you’ll find scrumptious recipes like sloppy joe quesdillas, rocky road nutella bars, or pot roast naan pizza. You’ll also find endless amounts of documented shenanigans. So, if you need a few chuckles this Monday morning, stop by and say, “What’s up?”

I’m thrilled to be guest-posting today! I had the pleasure of meeting Rachel last year at the Mixed Conference. Rachel is a sweetheart, so when she asked me to guest post in her Apple a Day series, I was super pumped and immediately said, “Let’s DEWWW this!”

Okay, I have to let you in on a little secret: I really do eat an apple a day! Okay, minus the day after a night in the giggle juice or if we are traveling and I forget. I honestly try and eat an apple day. My Grandpa Ray used to eat them by the bucketful and he lived well into his 90’s. Maybe the saying is true – “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Besides the health benefits of apples, there are 7,452 different ways to bake, sauté, and cook with apples. Sweet or savory? Hot or cold? Stuffed or non-stuffed? Bubba Gump shrimp ain’t got nothing on the apple, yo.

Case in point: it didn’t take me very long to come up with a dish for this series. I have been on a major tater tot kick and figured why not marry these two together. Since tots are a delicacy in my world and like Napoleon I’d rather not share, I needed to create a dish that the hubs would steer clear of. Enter this sweet and savory spiced apple tater tot crisp. Imagine an apple pie, but with a fried buttery crust topped with spiced granola and sweet honey whipped cream.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large cast-iron skillet, place frozen tater tots on the bottom making sure they are arranged in an even layer. Top tater tots with apple filling. Then top apple filling with the granola topping. Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove skillet from oven and add cheddar cheese on top. Bake for another five minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown. Remove skillet from oven, let it cool slightly. Serve with a big dollop of honey whipped cream on top!

for the apple filling:
In a large bowl, combine apple slices, sugar, nutmeg, juice, flour, and butter. Set aside.

for the granola topping:
In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, granola, and salt. Add butter using your fingers to combine with dry ingredients. Set aside when done.

for the honey whipped cream:
In a stand fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the heavy cream on high. Slowly add the honey. Whisk until soft peaks form. Set aside until ready to top the tot dish!

I think I just died and went to heaven (cloud nine, more specifically). Someone wake me up when my sweet-toothed dream is over. I think someone else mentioned it above as well, but how AMAZING would sweet potato tots be with this? Like, I’m-already-drooling-amazing.Let me know if you think it would change any of the flavors (in a less than desirable way), or if I’d have to switch around anything else if I substituted sweets!